Past and Present Tense
by AlmostDaringDreamer
Summary: Eren remembered Levi the same way he remembered everything else: vividly. But his new neighbor with the charming smile and quiet laugh was completely unfamiliar to him, and he didn't know how to feel about it. (Riren Reincarnation AU)
1. Chapter 1

New story, as promised.

Okay, so buckle yourself in for a super long author's note. This is a new story, which means that I have to prepare you for all the new-story stuff. I will try to be brief, but even then, this could take a while. Feel free to skip, but you might miss something you want to know.

First: This is a Riren reincarnation AU. Just so you know.

Second: This will be short and sweet. Ten chapters. Or maybe nine chapters and a short epilogue, but ten parts. No plot. Pure fluff. The plot is Eren and Levi being cute dorks. That is all. Do not expect anything else.

Third: Eren is 18. Levi is 25. There's not all that much of an age gap in this one.

Fourth: Hanji is female. I prefer Hanji/Hange/however-I-spell-it to be non-binary, but the pronouns can get confusing. I prefer "them" to be a "she," at least in this story.

Fifth: This is my second fanfic. I am more familiar with fanfiction-specific writing (and just writing in general) than I was when I started Risk, but I'm still kind of green at all this. If you have any questions, ask me. I like to answer them, even if I'm not particularly good at it. If you have any suggestions, tell me. I may not follow them, but they're still nice to hear. Otherwise, just cut me a little bit of slack

Sixth: This is not beta'd or edited. I do all of that myself post-completion. You are reading rough drafts. I apologize for any typos or errors, and they will be corrected if the story is ever finished, but until then, you're just going to have to bear with me.

Seventh: The rating on this may change to M at some point. I'm not sure how explicit I'm going to get with the sexual situation. No smut. I'm asexual, and I couldn't write that if I tried, not right now anyway, but enough stuff might happen to warrant a rating boost. Just a heads up.

Eighth: I really hope you enjoy this story! I've been excited to write it for a while now, because Eren and Levi are adorkable. The other story I have "in the works" is much more complicated than this and Risk. It actually has a plot (gasp) so I'm working on fleshing it out more before I actually begin writing/posting.

Ninth: I'm still in school, and I still have school-y things to do. I won't figure out if I got into my first-choice college until December, so I can't really relax until then. And if I didn't get in then I'm going to be even less inclined to post. Bear with me. I will finish writing this. But my schooling definitely takes priority over my fanfic writing. Updates should get more regular after January, because college applications will all be in by then, but I'll still have to worry about IB exams and what have you.

That should be all. Hope you enjoy

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Being an adult didn't feel much different than being a teenager. When Eren turned eighteen, he had expected to feel some huge difference, but he had woken up and gone about his day like normal. Now, he thought, he should be feeling the change. He had turned eighteen five months ago, but he had still been in school, still living with his parents, still saving only meager amounts from a part-time job. But now he was holding a box full of his belongings, officially moving out of his parents place and into the life of an independent adult. He had graduated high school and opted out of college. He got an apartment with Mikasa and Armin. He got a full-time job which would be starting in a couple of days.

But it didn't feel much different.

Eren hoisted the box - filled with clothes and magazines and videogames - higher into his arms, kicking at the slightly ajar door of his new living space until it swung open. Boxes littered the open space of the living room and kitchen, some hanging open with their contents scattered, others still sealed shut. Armin, who had been tasked with unpacking the boxes, had apparently abandoned his post, opting instead to lay face down on the battered couch they had placed in the room earlier. Eren added his box to the growing collection, shoving one aside with the heel of his shoe as he crossed the room to lean over his blonde friend. Armin mumbled something indecipherable into the cushions, raising an arm to feebly try to push Eren away as the green-eyed boy leaned over him, a wide smirk on his face.

"What's this? Armin Arlet, slacking off?" With a dramatic groan, Armin flopped over to expose Eren to the full force of his glare. He smacked an arm against Eren's stomach, but the gesture was weak and halfhearted.

"I've been unpacking things for five hours," he griped, mouth falling into a pout. "I'm tired. Why isn't Mikasa helping with this?" Eren rolled his eyes good-naturedly, grabbing his friend's legs to drag them off the couch, taking the place they had occupied and forcing Armin to sit up.

"Mikasa is actually hauling boxes up and down the stairs, unlike you, who's too delicate to handle the physical labor."

"It's not that I'm too delicate," Armin protested, ignoring the dubious raise of Eren's eyebrows. "I just don't want to be covered in sweat, _unlike you._ You smell disgusting, by the way."

Eren ran a hand through his hair, and sure enough, it was damp, spiked up at odd angles and slightly stiff with salt. His shirt was plastered to his back, and the cool of indoors, which had been a relief at first, was quickly becoming unpleasant as the sweat on his body cooled. Moving at the beginning of August really wasn't ideal, especially not with a heat wave ravaging the city, but there wasn't much of a choice. Mikasa and Armin were starting school soon and they needed to be moved in by then, and if that meant dealing with some heat, only Armin would complain.

"I smell amazing," Eren dismissed, picking at the collar of his shirt to sniff at it (he realized a second late that he was lying, but what did that matter?). "Like a man."

"Yes, well I, for one, like my men well bathed."

Eren couldn't help but laugh at his friend's dry expression, snorting in slightly as he breathed in wrong, something Mikasa and Armin never failed to mock him for.

"You sound like a pig," Mikasa chimed, right on cue, as she shouldered her way through the door, a stack of several small boxes resting on her arms. Eren stood to relieve her of a few of them, placing his newly acquired load off to the side as she did the same with hers.

"A devilishly handsome pig," he amended with an easy grin, ducking the hand she sent at his head with another brief laugh.

"A pig that will be fried up and eaten for breakfast if it tries to hide out in here while I haul boxes in from the heat." With a roll of her eyes, Mikasa pulled her t-shirt over her head and wiped it over her face, leaving her in only a black tank top. Eren sighed, but his smile didn't abandoned him as he followed her back out of the building.

For the most part, they were done bringing in furniture, and only had a few boxes remaining. The rest of the day (and a majority of the week, in all likelihood) would be spent unpacking their things and getting settled. With the last several boxes split between them, Mikasa and Eren made for the entrance of their building, stopping in their tracks when a woman bounced into their path.

"You must be Hanji," Eren greeted, ignoring the slightly surprised look Mikasa shot at him. Armin hadn't told them much about Hanji – only that she was a friend of his who lived in their building – but Eren recognized her.

She was a fairly petite woman, of average height and thin build. Brown eyes, hair of a similar shade, perhaps with a more prominent tint of red, perpetually tied back. Glasses: thick framed and slightly outdated. A well-worn smile. Looking at her, she seemed the type to never frown – smile lines, dimples, excitable gleam in her eyes, the whole shebang – but Eren knew that that wasn't the truth.

If there was one thing he had learned in his years (which were almost twice as long as the eighteen he advertised) it was that people rarely changed. Hanji was no exception. This Hanji, sure enough, was the same as the one he had known all that time ago – whether it was centuries or millennium, Eren couldn't say, but he was certain that she was the same, just like Armin was the same, and Mikasa was the same. He was the only one who had changed, really.

He remembered everything.

He remembered growing up in Shinganshina, he remembered the titans, remembered them breaking through the wall. He remembered his mom dying, remembered joining the military, remembered being a shifter. The only thing he couldn't recall was dying, though he assumed it had happened when he was sixteen, since he didn't have any memories past a certain, seemingly innocuous expedition.

No one else remembered anything.

As a child, it had been hard. He had had nightmares (hell, he still did). He couldn't differentiate between memories and reality. The result was years of therapy, years of internal rejection, and years of thinking himself insane, but he was mostly past it now. As past it as he could be, anyway.

Armin and Mikasa knew that they had been reincarnated, even if they didn't remember. Or at least, they knew Eren _thought_ they had been. They were the only people he would talk to about it, and they would listen with open ears, even if they didn't necessarily believe him. Sometimes he had a hard time believing it himself, but there was no other way of explaining how he _knew_ Hanji, despite never having met her.

"And you're Eren," the woman said, rocking forward on the balls of her feet. "And Mikasa. Armin's told me all about you." She eagerly took a box from Mikasa's arms, swiping it away before Mikasa could protest. "I was supposed to be here earlier to help you guys move, but I got kind of caught up at work. High schoolers can be pretty troublesome when they want to be. Which is practically always."

"Do you teach?" Mikasa asked. If there was one thing Mikasa had ever had trouble with, it was conversation and making small talk, but Hanji seemed immune to her awkwardness.

"Yes! I teach biology!" she responded, with the enthusiasm she had once reserved for titans. There was a pause as they climbed the stairs, Mikasa trying to think up a question.

"How did you meet Armin, then?"

"Sometimes I give lectures at the college you two will be attending," Hanji answered easily. "He attended one last year and we got in a fascinating conversation about-"

"Well I'm happy you two met," Eren interrupted quickly. He knew from experience that it was easy to get Hanji going and impossible to get her to stop. However "fascinating" that topic was, he and Mikasa didn't want to hear about it for three hours. "The rent on this apartment is surprisingly low, especially since the places are in such great shape."

"Yeah. It's actually my roommate who found the place. He's always been a little cheap – don't tell him I said so – and he's great at finding steals on anything." A million possible identities of this roommate flashed through Eren's mind, but before he could so much as open his mouth to ask a question they reached their floor, and Armin popped out the door to greet them.

"Hanji, lower your voice," he groaned. "Why do you always shout everything you say?"

"I'm not yelling, Armin. This is my default tone of voice." She brushed past him and into the apartment without invitation, and Eren's lips quirked into a slight smile at her casually obtrusive behavior. Maybe it would annoy some, but Eren found it endearingly familiar. Certainly, he would be sick of it in a few days, if it continued, but he always loved to meet people again for the first time and reacquaint himself with their personalities.

"So this is your place?" she asked, glancing around for an empty, out-of-the-way spot to place her cargo. "It's nice – not surprising, since it's the same exact thing as mine, and everyone knows I have excellent taste. Right next door, too."

"What?" Armin's lips twisted into a stern frown as he stared at his innocently smiling friend. She clasped her hands behind her back, rocking on her heels.

"Howdy, neighbor."

"Oh you've got to be kidding me."

"Nope." She popped the 'p,' striding to Armin's side and wrapping an arm around his shoulder. "If you ever need a cup of sugar, you know who to ask."

"I swear to God, Hanji, if I hear you doing any weird experiments over there I _will_ report you to the police."

"Armin, I'm hurt. Do you really think I would be so stupid as to keep my test subjects in the apartment? That's just bad manners."

Eren glanced between the two, stifling laughter. It was rare to see Armin interact with someone the way he did with Hanji. Typically, Armin was the nice, quiet, voice-of-reason type who always watched out for others' feelings, but Hanji brought out a side of him that was more sharp-witted and teasing. Eren had been baffled by it in their last life, especially since Hanji had been their superior officer at the time, but he was grateful to see it now.

"Stop pouting," Hanji ordered cheerfully, slapping Armin on the back. "We're going to have so much fun – you don't even _know_. But first, do you want me to take you on a tour of the campus. I know you're already pretty familiar with it, but-" She drew out the last word, shrugging, leaving the offer open. Armin's scowl disappeared immediately, and he nodded with a smile.

"You too, Mikasa. You haven't seen as much of it as Armin has, have you?" Mikasa shook her head slightly in confirmation. She had been on campus a couple of times, but she didn't know much about it. According to Armin, Hanji had graduated from there a couple of years ago, so she would be a useful tour guide.

"Oh, and Eren. You can come, too, if you want." Eren held his hands up in front of him and shook his head.

"No thanks," he rejected. "I opted out of college for a reason. I think I'm just going to avoid school for – well, forever. I'll leave you academic people to it." Hanji shrugged as told him the offer was open. Giving him her number, she told him to text her if he found himself with a sudden desire to meet up with them. He entered it into his phone for future reference, but without plan on using it anytime soon.

He waved the three of them off before stripping down to take a shower, washing away the residue of the long day's work. The water chilled his skin but pounded warmth into the muscles of his back, which were rapidly becoming sore. His hair proved to be a fruitless task, and he didn't bother with it beyond getting it clean, allowing it to dry any which-way it wanted to. He redressed into a pair of clean, worn jeans and a t-shirt that was soft and thin from too many years and too many runs through a washer.

Hands on his hips, in a pose akin to Superman, Eren confronted the cardboard mess that was the living area. Armin had made little progress on his task. Half the boxes were unopened, and the contents of those that had been were mostly just stacked beside the container. Very little was actually where it was supposed to be. It occurred to Eren that he could use this time to start making the apartment livable, but the longer he stared at the task before him, the less he wanted to tackle it. Not on his own, anyway.

As he tried to think of a sufficient excuse to use when Mikasa and Armin got back to see that he had done no work, Eren's stomach growled. And there it was, the excuse he was looking for. He slid into the kitchen, doing a quick check of the fridge (he knew it would be empty, but it didn't hurt to be sure) before raiding the cupboard. It was on Eren's insistence, and mostly Armin's, that the cupboards had already been stocked with the "necessities." That was one job that Armin had actually followed through on.

Or so Eren had thought, until his attempted raid yielded nothing but "healthy" snacks. Definitely nothing that could appease Eren's appetite. He had forgotten that both Armin and Mikasa had been on a health kick for at least the last month. His eye twitched as he stared at the boxes of rice cakes and crackers. Where were the cookies, _the candy?_ This problem needed to be seen to immediately.

Thankfully there was a supermarket only a fifteen minute walk from the apartment, easily close enough for an emergency junk run whenever Eren found that one was necessary (which was now, definitely now). He covered the fifteen minutes in eight - because he may have jogged or maybe even ran, but that was just semantics, really. There, he stocked up on the _real_ necessities. Cookies of every kind he could get his hands on, a decent amount of ice cream for the empty freezer, several bags of chips, party sized bags of skittles and starbursts both.

Laden down with several pounds of junk food - his wallet compensating by being several pounds lighter - and feeling as if a major crisis had been adverted, Eren returned to the apartment. He juggled the bags between his arms to get a hand free, tediously balancing everything as he turned the doorknob.

It stuck.

Because it was locked.

And he didn't have his keys.

Or his phone.

Eren swore to God that he wasn't an idiot. He wasn't, really. He just did _really_ stupid stuff sometimes.

With a sigh, he slumped down, the door against his back. He let the bags fall to the ground beside him, red imprints left across his arms from their weight. He supposed he would just have to wait for Armin and Mikasa to get back with Hanji. One of them would have a key, for sure. Hopefully. They were more responsible than him, after all.

After a moment of nothing but sitting in silence, Eren reached into one of the bags beside him and withdrew his sack of skittles, placing it on his lap and tearing it open. Leaning his head back, he closed his eyes and dropped handful after handful into his mouth.

It was half an hour, at least, before he was disturbed by the sound of footsteps exiting the stairway and coming toward him. He perked up, sitting straighter and gripping his bag of candy tightly. Grinning, he looked over, expecting to see the long-awaited return of his roommates, only to jerk backwards at the sight that met him.

If there was one thing he had learned in his years (which were almost twice as long as the eighteen he advertised) it was that people rarely changed. Levi was no exception. The same hooded grey eyes, same small stature, same undercut, same neat look, same blank expression. This Levi, sure enough, was the same one Eren had known all that time ago.

That was what Eren thought.

But then Levi spotted him, stared at him for a long moment. Eren waited for the distaste, the disdain.

Instead he got the raise of an eyebrow, a little bit of disbelief, and then Levi smiled. Ever so slightly, he _smiled._

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So, I had a lot of fun writing this. I hope you had a lot of fun reading it.


	2. Chapter 2

A few things I forgot to mention

Tenth: this will be cliche as hell. Nothing original here, nope, sorry. You've probably read something almost exactly like this a million times already.

Eleventh: this is an important one. I haven't read the manga. I've seen the anime, of course, and I've picked up some stuff from the manga just from being online but I _have not read it_. My representation of Levi and Eren's relationship from their past life _will not be accurate to cannon._ Just so you know.

Twelfth: also, because of the whole "Levi is different in this life" thing, a lot of the things he does/says could be classified as out of character.

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Eren was not proud of the amount of time he spent gaping. He scrambled against the ground, stumbling up until he was standing. His hand clenched into a fist by his side, but he stopped himself short of drawing it up into the instinctive salute. Levi, meanwhile, watched Eren fumble with the slightest bemused tilt along the edge of his mouth, grey eyes sparkling with something that looked a lot like amusement to Eren - but of course it couldn't actually be amusement, because this was Corporal Levi.

And what was he doing there, anyway? Eren had met plenty of people from his past life, but there were also plenty he had seen neither hide nor hair of in all his time. Levi was one of those people, and Eren had always just assumed that the Corporal was somewhere else, somewhere where Eren never had to see or think about him.

Having Levi here, in the hallway of Eren's new home, did strange things to Eren's head. He had had eighteen years to leave his past life behind, and for the most part, he had been successful. The Eren Jaeger he was now was entirely different than the one from the time Eren personally referred to as "the Titan Age." He was a normal person now, not a rage fueled monster.

But seeing Levi awoke the soldier in Eren for the first time in a long time. His shoulders actually ached from resisting the urge to salute. His tongue was bleeding from being bitten to prevent the "sirs" and "corporals" that tried to spill from his mouth. His face was flushed with shame and embarrassment from being caught slacking off by his superior officer. Consciously, Eren realized that Levi was no longer his Corporal, that Levi probably had no idea who Eren was in this life, but despite that, Eren found himself caught in his old headspace.

This was Corporal Levi, his commanding officer, who appeared from nowhere while Eren was slacking off instead of participating in training, and Eren should really be cleaning this hallway right now if he doesn't want to get beat. Eren found himself pressed against his apartment door, grocery bags forgotten by his feet. His body ached with phantom pains, memories.

"You okay, kid?" Levi asked, and it was kid, not brat, which was strange, but not unwelcome. Levi's voice was odd in Eren's ears, vaguely familiar but still entirely foreign.

"I - fine," Eren spluttered. "Fine. I'm fine. Totally fine, sir." Shit, Eren let one slip, and maybe Levi would let it slide - but no, the man's thin eyebrows were already going up slightly in disbelief.

"Nice, but a little uncalled for, don't you think?" The corners of Levi's mouth went up in a smirk, and Eren was absolutely transfixed by the small movement of the muscles. The half smile looked almost wrong on Levi's face. Of all the people Eren had known in his past life, Levi was the only one who never smiled. People had been generally unhappier back then - that only made sense - but they all still found moments to enjoy life. Eren had had his own with Mikasa and Armin, brief times when they could forget that they were trapped inside walls by monsters who wanted to eat them alive. Levi had been the only one who didn't have those moments - or rather, Eren never saw them if they existed (which would be quite a feat considering how close-quarters the squad was sometimes forced to live).

"I, um. Sorry. Sorry, uh L-" Eren caught himself before allowing Levi's name to slip. He wasn't supposed to know it after all. He tripped over his tongue for a solid fifteen seconds or so, blinking stupidly and fumbling with his fingers before Levi put him out of his misery.

"You're fine, kid," he assured, a soft laugh lingering along the edges of his voice. "Jesus, you're so flustered. Usually I have to break out the cheesy pickup lines to get people blushing like you are."

At the mention of his evident embarrassment, Eren felt the heat in his cheeks increase and his throat suddenly felt to thick to let out any noise. He was left with only one question resounding in his head: Levi used cheesy pickup lines?

"I'm not blushing," Eren blurted after a long pause, awkward only on Eren's end. The denial was pointless, and an obvious lie, but for some reason Eren was slightly comforted by it. It made him feel a tad bit more in control of the situation, and he could use anything he could get at the moment.

"Uh huh, of course," Levi agreed absently. The roll of his eyes was humoring rather than frustrated. "So what are you doing in front of my apartment, kid? You a gift from Hanji or something?"

"Gift?" Eren squeaked - and no, he didn't do that often, he was much manlier than that, but how else was he supposed to react to a statement like that?

"Yeah, gift. Hanji'll hook me up with someone if I haven't gotten laid in a while. But you're blushing like a virgin, so I'm guessing that's not it. What's up?"

Okay, first of all, let it be known that Eren was not a virgin. He wasn't exactly experienced, but he had had sex once or twice, and he wouldn't settle for people spreading a dirty rumor like that.

Secondly (and probably more importantly to anyone who had their priorities in order), did this mean Levi would have slept with Eren. That was what he had implied, wasn't it? Eren wasn't completely misreading the situation, was he? It was entirely possible, and Jesus, did Eren hope that he was just confused, that Levi wasn't currently coming on to him.

"Come on kid," Levi prompted after Eren's extended silence. "I'm dying of curiosity, here. What are you doing in my hallway." At the end, it wasn't a question, but a demand for a response. A bit of the Levi that Eren was familiar with shown through - commanding and authoritative.

"This is my apartment." Eren knew he sounded stilted, and as he jerked a thumb at the door behind him, he knew that his movements were stiff.

"It is, is it? What are you doing outside it then?"

"I … locked myself out," Eren admitted, hanging his head slightly.

"So you must be that Arlo-kid's roommate, then. Hanji's been talking about your move for weeks."

"Armin," Eren corrected, the name coming more easily to him than any other words so far, mostly due to reflex. "Armin Arlet."

"Arlet-kid, then. Got a name yourself, or will I have to make one up? I can think of several." Eren opened his mouth to respond, but words failed him for a moment. Suddenly a task as simple as introducing himself seemed incredibly daunting.

"Would you like a sample?" Levi asked, eyes rolling up towards the ceiling as he appeared to think. "Well, I could just call you the Roommate. Or maybe That-guy-from-the-hallway. Kid. Brat. Shitty Brat. That's a little derivative, though." Levi pursed his lips and sighed. "Obviously, I'm not the best with names. None of those were very good, now were they, Bright Eyes?"

"Bright Eyes?" Eren questioned through the sudden onset of a coughing fit.

"Ocean Eyes, maybe?"

"No! Eren! My name is Eren. Eren Jaeger."

Levi smiled. It wasn't a smirk, not even something small and faint like the smile Eren had seen when Levi first entered the hallway. This smile was full and bright, the kind that's typical on most people, but most decidedly atypical on Levi.

"Well Eren, it was a pleasure speaking to you," he said, with only the slightest touch of sarcasm. "But unfortunately, I did come here for a reason, and I'm kind of on a time crunch." With the same smile, Levi walked past Eren, unlocking the door to the neighboring apartment before disappearing inside.

Eren stared for a moment before his knees folded beneath him and he slid to the ground with his abandoned bag of skittles. He let his head fall back, his eyes drift close, and just as his breathing had begun to even, the door besides him opened again. There was Levi, smiling yet another bemused smile, with a bag slung over his shoulder.

"Well good luck, kid. Name's Levi, by the way."

And then he was gone, leaving Eren a mess all over again with just two sentences.

Eren didn't know how to handle this new development. Sometimes his old memories could interfere with his present, but most of the time, he could work past that these days. When it came to people, he was always fairly certain of the way his relationship with them worked, because it never really changed. Mikasa and Armin were still close enough with Eren to be his siblings. Jean was still best defined as a frenemy. Even Hanji seemed like she would have the same over-enthusiastic presence in Eren's life as she had originally. If the pattern held, that meant that Levi and Eren's relationship would be the same this time around.

God, Eren hoped it didn't work out that way.

In their past life, Eren admired Levi. After all, the man was humanity's strongest soldier, one of the only members of the Survey Corps that always came back alive. Eren looked up to him; Levi had been Eren's idol. That didn't really change when Eren joined the military: he still respected and admired Levi like no one else. But the hero-worship was paired with a new dose of fear.

Levi terrified Eren. Levi terrified practically everyone. He was cold and removed and distant, and unlike anyone Eren had ever met, even in that time. Eren had been on the wrong side of Levi's fists too many times to count, too many times to remember. It wasn't something Eren held against Levi - he hadn't then, and he didn't now. Levi had beat discipline and obedience into his soldiers, not because he was cruel, but because that was the way of the time. That was how training worked. Shadis had done it. Commander Smith had done it. It was par for the course.

But it was still freaking terrifying.

This Levi, with the smiles and small laughs, could he really be the same person who had kicked Eren's tooth out of his head on their first meeting? What did a person like that do in a life like this? Things were so completely different, and Eren couldn't even begin to imagine how Levi fit into a world without titans. Maybe he didn't.

Maybe Levi had changed.

A strange curiosity bubbled in Eren's stomach. If he had learned one lesson, it was that people just didn't change, not fundamentally, but he also knew to trust his instincts, and Levi was different. As much as Eren had respected Levi in his past life, he had to admit that he was incredibly interested to see what kind of man Levi had managed to become in this life. He didn't know much of what Levi had gone through in their past incarnation, but he knew that it wasn't pretty. That it was probably more than enough to make a person cold and removed and distant.

Eren's head throbbed. His day had been exhausting. The stress of the move was multiplied by the heat of the day, and for Levi to make an appearance after all of that was. . . Eren didn't know the word for it, but it made his limbs heavy. He wanted to get some sleep, even if it had to be in the new bed in the small dingy room he would be sharing with Armin from here on out. He might have managed to drift off there in the hallway, his head propped against the doorjamb, fingers curled loosely against the rough carpet, but he wasn't sure.

Armin and Mikasa pulled him from his daze he-didn't-know-how-long later, small smirks on both of their faces, statements about how "typical it was of him" on their lips. He stood on legs that still shook slightly, and gave one look to the apartment next door before going into his own.


	3. Chapter 3

Hello again. It's been a while. And because it's been awhile, I feel the need to remind you of one key thing: I haven't read the manga. I saw the anime originally two years ago, and I think I rewatched it last year, maybe? So, I'm definitely not up on cannon, and so this doesn't really follow canon. As in, Eren and Levi's past relationship is not based on their relationship in canon (honestly I have seen people foaming at the mouth over how Eren and Levi's relationship in canon is not abusive so I just want it to be very clear that the past relationship I'm writing is _not my interpretation of canon_ ). Also, my characterization is based mainly on the anime I saw forever ago, things I have seen on Tumblr, and other fanfictions, so I'm kind of playing a really long game of telephone with these characters and some things might get lost in translation.

All that said, I should be back to updating more or less regularly now. It won't take me over three months again (any time soon), that's for sure.

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Eren was the biggest idiot to ever exist on the face of the earth. He had denied it for so long, told himself that it couldn't possibly be true, but now he had to face it. He was a moron.

"You never learn, do you?" he asked himself scathingly, though he aimed the question at the pack of oreos he held in his hands. "Insanity is doing the same things over and over and expecting different results. Stupidity is doing the same thing over and over and not even realizing that you're doing it because you're too _dumb_ to notice."

Mikasa and Armin had started their classes, and were currently attending some English nonsense or something, and Eren had gone out to get some food, and he had left his keys on the counter. His phone, of course, was next to them, because Eren was one of those rare members of his generation that was actually capable or forgetting the device (Eren blamed the fact that there hadn't been any phones in Shiganshina). So, here he was, with a thing of Oreos, a bag of Skittles, and nothing to do but sit on the floor of the hallway just like he did last time (at least this time he didn't have two tubs of ice cream that would be gooey messes by the time he got back into his home).

And, just like last time, Levi found him there. The dejavu was almost overwhelming, and Eren wondered for a moment if he had developed the ability to see the future alongside his ability to remember the past, but the illusion of sameness was shattered when Levi bent in on himself, shoulders shaking. Panic flashed through Eren, hot in his chest for just a moment, before he realized that Levi was laughing, _fucking laughing_ those quiet, muffled laughs.

"Oh my god," the man gasped, "this is a little too familiar." Eren gaped at Levi, who smiled easily and closed the distance between them. He lowered himself to the ground next to Eren, stretching his legs in front of himself, and shamelessly helping himself to one of Eren's Oreos. With a scowl, Eren moved the Oreos to his other side, and placed the Skittles between them instead.

"Seriously?" Levi asked, shaking his head. As uncomfortable and shocked as Eren was, he took his food very seriously, thank you very much, and he had no plans to share his Oreos with anyone that hadn't thoroughly ingratiating themselves to him, not even his commanding officer. He nudged the pack farther away, eliciting another laugh from Levi.

"Cute," Levi said wryly. Eren stiffened, throwing Levi a thinly veiled look of suspicion.

"What are you doing?" Eren asked, even though his body was screaming at him not to, that it wasn't his place to question his superior officer. In the chain of command, Eren was hardly high enough to breath the same _air_ as Levi, was only allowed to because of some weird blessing that spared his life in favor of weaponizing him. He reminded himself that Levi was no longer a corporal, that they were no longer soldiers, that now Eren could do whatever the hell he wanted to.

"Eating your Skittles," Levi answered casually with none of the hostility Eren had braced himself for. "You offered them up in place of the Oreos, so don't expect me to spare them." With a small smirk, he rifled through the bag and popped a handful of the colorful candies into his mouth.

"That's not what I meant," Eren said, shaking his head and snagging some of the candy for himself before Levi could obliterate it.

"Well, you're going to have to elaborate. I'm trying here, kid, but I can't read your mind."

"Why are you sitting here and eating my food," Eren expounded, failing to keep the sarcastic bite out of his voice. He tensed instinctively, but told himself to relax for the umpteenth time. His caution had already proved itself to be unnecessary, but he couldn't keep it out of his veins.

"Last time I caught you here I had places to be, shit to do, but I don't have anywhere to be right now, so I figure I might as well spend my time with you in this _charming_ hallway. I must admit that I'm curious as to how you managed to get stuck out here twice. And also - hey, free food."

"I left my keys on the counter," Eren sighed. Levi raised an eyebrow, and it used to be that he would have said something scathing and derisive, but now he just laughed lightly.

"Why don't you just put the key on a necklace or something?" he suggested.

"That's not a bad idea," Eren granted thoughtfully. It wasn't something Eren had considered before, but it really wasn't a bad idea. He was pretty sure he had some twine in the closet that he could string a necklace with, though it would have to wait until he actually got inside.

"Thanks." Levi grinned (god damn it, it was still weird). "I got it from Zoey 101."

For a long moment, Eren stared blankly at Levi's serious, smiling face, and the next thing he knew he was laughing so hard he couldn't breathe. He wasn't sure what it was, really. It was at least part hysteria, because he still didn't really know how to feel about the fact that this was _Levi_ , and the thought of _that_ man watching some frivolous TeenNick show was almost beyond comprehension. Levi's laugh joined Eren's, softer and more controlled, but just as genuine.

"What? It's a good fucking show," Levi said, the joke obvious in his voice. "Hanji makes me watch that shit all the time."

"You can't be serious."

"Well - Hanji really does make me watch it all the time. But really, I just wanted to make you laugh." The way Levi says it - jovially and with exaggerated pride and bravado - makes Eren laugh again, and the teasing smile on Levi's face softens into something else.

"Your eyes really light up when you laugh," he says boldly, tone paired perfectly with the look on his face. It sent something warm through Eren's stomach, immediately chased by the realization that this was _Corporal Levi_ and Eren was not allowed to get _butterflies_ because of _Corporal Levi_ , no matter what life they were in.

"Are you flirting with me?" he blurted, words tangled and unconscious, slipping from Eren's lips before he could snatch them back. He made a choked noise in response to his own question, because honestly, he didn't want to know. If Levi _was_ flirting with him, everything would be better off if Eren just ignored it and played dumb. He could become one of those ridiculously dense protagonists who never knew when they were being hit on until someone outright confessed their love to them in no uncertain terms. If Eren knew Levi at all, he knew that the man wouldn't put up with that shit, and would sooner avoid Eren then deal with it, and Eren was 90% certain that that would be the best option for everyone involved. A panicked heat rose to Eren's face as Levi looked at him oddly.

"Yeah," the man confirmed after a moment that felt like a lifetime. "I was trying to, anyway. Now that that cat's out of the bag, I'll cut right to the chase." He popped some more of Eren's candy into his mouth as if they were having the most casual conversation conceivable. "Eren - I don't know your last name - would you go on a date with me sometime?"

"My last name is Jaeger," Eren responded blankly, earning another little laugh from Levi (that Eren hadn't asked for because Levi _laughing_ was making this way harder than it should have been).

"Noted. So: Eren Jaeger, would you go on a date with me sometime?"

"I don't even know _your_ last name." Admittedly, Eren was stalling now, because he couldn't say yes to Levi, but he felt like he would bite his tongue if he tried to say no. To be fair, he thought his point was a good one. He didn't know Levi's last name, and he never had. In their past life, he was always just "Levi," or "Corporal," but no one ever said his surname, not around Eren, at least.

"It's Ackerman. So: Will you, Eren Jaeger, go on a date with me, Levi Ackerman, sometime?"

He wasn't giving up, apparently. He didn't even look _annoyed_ , smirking at Eren with a cocky lopsided grin that said he could do this all day. With that in mind, Eren gathered (some) of his wits about him and changed tactics.

"We don't even know each other." Levi didn't bother pausing to consider Eren's point.

"That's why I want to date you," he explained. "To get to know you. I mean, we're not going to see much of each other if we don't have a reason to. I teach at a fucking high school and you do your teenager-finding-their-way-in-the-world-thing. Our paths aren't going to cross often, and you're too cute for me to only get to see when you lock your dumb ass out of your apartment. So, what do you say, kid? Date me?"

Eren stared dumbly, throat moving convulsively as he swallowed down several "yes"s that tried to escape. He knew he should say no, of course he should, because that was, without question, the smart thing to do. But there was the soft smile on Levi's lips and the softer one in his eyes, and really, what he was suggesting didn't sound bad at all. Getting to know Levi. Eren had always wanted that, even when he was terrified. He wanted to know things about the man sitting next to him, and he didn't really care in what form they came, but _dating_?

"Can I think about it?" he asked weakly, and Levi's smile was surprisingly bright for someone that had just been half rejected.

"No problem kid," he replied, lifting himself off the floor. "Whenever you decide, you know where to find me." He winked and jabbed a thumb at the door next to Eren's. "I'm right next door." He moved to leave, but stopped a step away and turned back, stooping and picking up Eren's skittles with a cheeky grin. "I'll be taking these. Don't try to stop me. I need comfort food. You know, for my poor, wounded heart." With a laugh at his own joke, he disappeared into his apartment, once again leaving Eren to wait out his roommates.

When Armin and Mikasa returned from campus, Hanji was with them, bouncing excitedly up to Eren when his roommates had barely made it out of the elevator. She leaned over him, hair falling over her face after coming loose from her ponytail, an expectant look on her face. He couldn't say exactly what she was expecting, especially considering that this was _Hanji,_ who Eren sometimes suspected wasn't even human because she made so little sense at times.

"So?" she prompted.

"So what?" Eren asked, when she failed to provide clarification.

" _So,_ I know Levi asked you out! He did, didn't he? How did he do it? What did you say? When are you getting married? Can I be the best man?"

"Hanji, I don't think-"

"Eren! You _owe_ me this."

"What?" Eren asked, baffled. Hanji had done him a number of "favors" in their past life, though it was debatable whether or not he owed her for any of those, considering that most of them were actually favors he did for her, and most of them ended with him injured, exhausted, or both. In this life though, he had only known her for a week or so, and had had maybe a total of four conversations with her in that time.

"You owe me," she insisted as Mikasa and Armin finally joined them. "You do. You just do. Really."

"I don't," Eren told her, but resigned, continued. "He did ask me out. Three times. Technically. And we won't be getting married considering I didn't even say yes."

"You didn't?" Hanji and Armin asked in unison, both sounding vaguely offended.

"No, I didn't."

"Why not?" Hanji asked, a fake looking scowl on her face, though Eren knew from past experience that it was very much real. "I know Levi is a little bit rough around the edges, but he's a nice guy - I can vouch for him, I swear. Why wouldn't you say yes?"

"If we're going to have this conversation," Eren sighed, "can we at least have it in the comfort of the apartment. My ass is sore from sitting on the ground so long."

"Maybe this way you'll finally remember to take your keys with you when you leave," Mikasa piped in, pulling out her own and unlocking the door.

"I'm thinking about stringing it on some twine and wearing it as a necklace," he told her as he stood, momentarily ignoring both Hanji and Armin, who were still sending him very stern looks. At his statement though, Hanji brightened slightly.

"Like in Zoey 101?" she asked, obviously fighting off a smile as she tried to keep a grip on her annoyance towards Eren.

"Yeah, actually," Eren confirmed, rubbing the back of his neck to hide the redness that probably rose there as he remembered who exactly had given him that idea. He followed Mikasa into the now open door and threw himself down onto the couch. Hanji and Armin followed, Armin taking his seat on the couch next to Eren while Hanji pulled a chair over so it was directly across from Eren. She straddled it and leveled a comically serious stare on him. Mikasa, apparently indifferent to the conversation they were about to have, retreated to her bedroom.

"So. Levi. Why did you break my best friend's heart?"

"I didn't," Eren said, raising his eyebrows at her exaggeration. "He really didn't seem to mind much. Just told me that I knew where to find him when I made up my mind."

"Wait," Armin interrupted. "When you _made up your mind_? Does that mean you didn't reject him, then?"

"Well, no - I mean, yeah? I didn't actually reject him. I told him I'd think about it, but I don't really … I'm not going to say yes."

"Why not!" Hanji demanded loudly, while Armin simply groaned.

"Eren," he said, "you haven't been on a date in a year. You haven't had a steady relationship since we were _juniors_ in _high school_. I have met Levi, and newsflash Eren! He is seriously attractive!"

"What's your point?" Eren asked, shifting under the weight of Hanji's gaze, which wasn't getting any less intense as time went on.

"My point is: a hot guy asked you out, why can't you at least give the guy a chance?"

"It's - It's _complicated,_ Armin."

"How can it be complicated?" Armin questioned, rolling his eyes in frustration. "You've had two conversations with the guy in a hallway. It's only complicated if you're making it complicated. If you don't even know the guy, it _can't be complicated_."

"I do know him, though."

A moment of silence followed, Armin's eyes widening and a soft sound leaving his lips. Hanji's expression fell slack with confusion, and she tilted her head. A second later, a realization seemed to come over her as well, and she gasped loudly, jolting her chair back onto two legs where it balanced precariously before falling back onto it's four feet.

"He's the one you told me about!"

Another moment followed her declaration, this one far more tense. Eren sat up straighter and took a moment to breathe before he spoke. Everyone always told him that he should breathe and think before he spoke, especially if he was angry, but it never seemed to help much in his case. He always tried anyway.

"You fucking told her?" he questioned, and his voice was steady in reward for his effort.

"I - well, she double majored in biology and psyche," Armin stuttered. "She's super smart, and she's into - into _weird_ stuff like this, Eren. It was only hypothetical, I never said your name or anything like that, I just - I just wanted to know if she thought it was possible."

"And she doesn't, right?" Eren sneered. "I've heard it enough, Armin, I really don't need my neighbor saying it, too."

"Actually," Hanji interjected, "from what Armin's told me, your story sounds more than plausible. There's actually a lot of lesser known mythology, you know. About the things you call _titans_." Eren cringed to hear another person say the word.

"Yeah, well." He didn't know what else to say.

"You said you knew Levi? How did you know him?" she asked, excitement obvious as she leaned closer to him.

"I'm really not comfortable talking to you about this," he bit out between gritted teeth, fighting the urge to actually bite something (a habit of frustration he had never gotten rid of).

"But Eren," she insisted, her voice suddenly sounding far too loud in the small apartment, "this is for science. _Science!"_

"Hanji," Armin called, meeting her eyes with a loaded look. He shook his head slightly. "It's probably best if you leave." She pouted and they engaged in a momentary battle of wills, which Armin seemed to win quickly, if Hanji's huff and prompt exit from the room were anything to go by.

"So," Armin began when the echo of the closing door faded. "How did you know him?"

"He was our commanding officer," Eren explained haltingly, glaring at Armin guardedly. It wasn't really that he didn't trust Armin, because he probably trusted Armin more than anyone, but their past life wasn't something Eren enjoyed talking about. Maybe it was a side effect of being told he was crazy a few too many times.

"I thought our commanding officer's name was Erwin?"

"It was," Eren confirmed. "Erwin Smith was our Commander. But Levi was our Corporal. He was Humanity's Strongest. He was amazing." Eren swallowed, shuddering slightly. "He was terrifying. I've already told you how training worked, right?"

"Oh," Armin said in realization. "So he…?"

"He kicked my tooth out of my head on our first meeting."

"So he hurt you a lot, then?" Armin asked, frowning intensely. Eren had done his best to explain how training worked, but Armin had never really understood. He couldn't remember any of it, so it all seemed completely inhuman to him. He didn't understand how Eren didn't hold a grudge against their superiors.

"No, not really. He hit me a few times, but not nearly as much as Shadis," Eren explained. But he was so intimidating. Unapproachable. He never smiled or laughed. Sometimes it was hard to believe he was human."

"Eren, I've met Levi, and-"

"He's different," Eren interrupted. "I don't know how, because everyone else is basically the same, but he's different. He smiled at me, Armin. I made him laugh. Do you know how many times I wished I could make Corporal Levi laugh?"

"Well, today you did. Isn't that a good thing?"

"I - It's a _complicated_ thing," Eren groaned, not knowing how to put his feelings into words anymore.

"It really doesn't have to be," Armin told him with a fond smile. "Here's what you do: you give him a chance. If it doesn't work out, it doesn't work out, and you don't have to worry about going on expeditions with him or anything like that. You just need to worry about running into him when you get locked out of the apartment. And if it does work out - well, maybe you'll finally get some closure for your crush on this _Corporal Levi,_ yeah?"

"I don't have a crush on Corporal Levi," Eren spluttered.

"Maybe infatuation is a better word?"

"It's just as bad!"

Armin laughed, shook his head, and retreated to their shared bedroom without another word. Eren flopped back into the couch, hating that it was their _shared_ bedroom, which meant that he couldn't hide out in there, too.

Armin was right. Eren did have a bit of an "infatuation" with Corporal Levi. He had since his past life, when he was young. The man was so strong, brave. When he was little, he fancied himself in love with the soldier, but he was quickly disillusioned when he actually _met_ the man. But there had always been a lingering … yearning? Curiousity? Enthrallment? Eren couldn't think of the right word for it. Complication.

But Levi - this Levi, who stole Eren's skittles with a cheeky smile and watched Zoey 101 with Hanji and - didn't seem all that bad. And apparently, he used cheesey pickup lines. Eren didn't think he would mind hearing one or two of those.


	4. Chapter 4

I have no excuses and nothing to say for myself but FCKN WHOOPS

But seriously, as long as it took for me to write this, it is the longest chapter I've ever written of anything I'm pretty sure (not 6+ months long, but semantics) and I actually really like this chapter.

 **xxxxxxxxxx**

Eren took a deep, unsteady breath. Nerves floated through his stomach and he shifted uneasily from foot to foot. His hand was fisted and prepared to knock on the door in front of him, but every time he raised his hand to do just that, something stopped him from actually making contact with the wood. He had made his decision, and he was definitely going to do this - eventually. Now it was just a matter of either a) stalling long enough to gather the courage on his own or b) stalling long enough that Levi came out of the apartment and caught him.

Frankly, while the idea of knocking was terrifying, the idea of Levi leaving the apartment and finding Eren standing there, gaping like an indecisive idiot, was far worse. Eren could already imagine the derision, though he supposed that it was entirely possible that this new Levi wouldn't react that way (in which case, Eren could imagine the teasing, and that was just as bad, really). With that in mind, Eren scrunched his eyes shut and blindly brought his fist forward.

In his moments of waiting, Eren made an effort to compose himself well enough that he could at least pass for someone who actually had their shit together. People like Levi could smell fear. Probably.

Levi opens the door with a bored, vaguely annoyed, and entirely familiar expression on his face, that quickly morphs to a not-so-familiar shit-eating grin when he sees Eren. He leans against the doorjamb, radiating smugness.

"I knew you'd be back," he said immediately.

"Maybe I'm just here for payment for those Skittles you stole," Eren replied automatically, cringing internally because _God, that was a stupid thing to say_. But Levi just shook his head.

"Those Skittles were my due recompense," he said, deadpan. "If you plan to fight me on this, I _will_ use my shitty teacher salary to lawyer up. No jury will rule in your favor."

"Recompense for _what_?" Eren demanded. Logically, he knew Levi was joking (wasn't that a thought) because the man couldn't possibly be serious, but Eren was thrown for a loop nonetheless, feeling terribly off balance.

"My broken heart, of course," Levi explained, tapping his knuckles against his chest. "I feel like I've explained this already. Poor little Levi, alone and rejected, had claim to the Skittles as payment for emotional damage."

"But you _weren_ 't rejected. I'm here to accept your offer, so you were hasty with your 'recompense,' weren't you?" A smirk found its way onto Levi's face, and it was only then that Eren realized he had actually said what he had come here to say - he had actually agreed to go on a date with Levi. The words came out far more easily than he expected them to, so much so that he hadn't even noticed until after the fact. He swallowed thickly, rubbing at the back of his neck.

"So," he said, notably less smoothly than before, "um, I guess when you're free sometime we can, you know, go on a date or whatever."

"I'm free now."

"Excuse me?"

"I'm free," Levi repeated. "Right now."

"Oh, now. Now as in right now, okay, well, um-"

"Are you free now, Eren?" Levi asked, amusement obvious in his eyes as he cut off Eren's stuttering.

"I mean, yeah. Yes. I just didn't - should I change?" Eren pointed weakly to the door of his own apartment, glancing down at the t-shirt and jeans ensemble he was wearing that had at least smelled clean when he put it on this morning. In comparison to Levi, whose clothes were simple yet impeccably neat, Eren probably looked like a complete slob.

"No, you're fine," Levi dismissed without even really checking. "It's not like we're going to do anything fancy or any weird shit like that. And you're what, eighteen? Nineteen? To be honest, I'm not expecting much."

"I'll have you know I clean up very nicely," Eren objected, scowling slightly though Levi's tone made it kind of hard for Eren to actually be offended. Maybe it was just because it was Levi, and that was such a _Levi_ thing to say, dismissive and blunt, the old reassuringly mixed with the new.

"Sure you do, kid," Levi humored. "Do you need to get anything before we go? It's only six we can probably catch a good movie if we go now."

"Need to get my wallet," Eren said after patting his pockets down in a cursory check. "Then I'm good to go."

"And don't forget your key," Levi called to Eren as he moved the small way down the hall to his own door, which he had left slightly open before leaving to talk to Levi specifically so he didn't have to worry about unlocking it to get back in when he was literally only going a few feet away. Though joke was on Levi, Eren actually already had his key on him for once.

Once inside the apartment, Eren stopped to lean his back against the door for just a minute, collecting his thoughts. Armin, having heard Eren enter, twisted around to peer at him from the couch.

"How'd it go?" the blonde asked. "Did you actually go through with it or did you just stare at his door for-" Armin glanced to the clock "-an hour and a half?"

"I talked to him," Eren replied, a little too shocked by the course of events to muster any defensiveness at Armin's words. "I'm going on a date with him. Now."

"Now?" Armin parrotted.

"Right now."

"You work fast," Armin commended. "Get your stuff together and go. Don't want to leave the guy waiting." With that, Armin went back to his show, leaving Eren to grab his wallet off the small table next to the door.

He took a deep breath. He was going on a date with Levi. Right now. And if he was being honest, he was actually a little excited. He wasn't even nervous - he didn't have time to be nervous. Just excited. And slightly giddy, maybe.

"I want details when you get back," Armin shouted as Eren left the apartment, far louder than the small space between them required. The door clicked shut, and Eren turned to face Levi, who was straightening up from where he had been leaning against the wall between their doors.

"Jeez kid, you get lost in there or something? Where the hell was your wallet - Narnia?"

"Wonderland, actually," Eren replied with an ease that shocked him. "You know, they never really talk about what happens if you need to get back _up_ the rabbit hole."

"Because that's definitely something I spend my time talking about."

"Doesn't everyone?" Levi snorted and rolled his eyes, leading them to the stairs. Eren could only take the silence for a moment before he started to think about all the things he specifically _didn't_ want to think about - Levi, and who he used to be, and who he seemed to be now, and how Eren had absolutely no idea what he was doing or where this was going.

"I'm eighteen," Eren blurted, just to stop thinking. "By the way. You said I was eighteen or nineteen. I'm eighteen."

"Oh great. Barely legal. Just the way I like them." Eren couldn't tell if Levi was being serious. There was no bitterness or sincerity or humor in the shorter man's voice to indicate one way or another, and Eren shifted uncomfortably. He had known, of course, that Levi was older, but he had no idea by how much, and it hadn't occurred to him that that could possibly be a _problem_. With everything else going on, Levi's age was the least of the things Eren had thought to worry about, but Eren's stomach twisted uncomfortably to think that, maybe, their ages, of all things, would be the thing that stopped this (whatever "this" was) before it even started.

"I'm 29, by the way," Levi added. Eren just nodded, still keeping pace with Levi as they exited the building. He didn't say anything. Primarily because he had no idea what to say. The silence that fell between them then might have been slightly strained, but Eren couldn't tell if the tension was real or imagined. Maybe it would be best to throw in a word or two just to diffuse the situation, but Eren was awful at being subtle and he honestly couldn't care less how old Levi was. An eleven year age gap seemed like nothing in comparison to the shit from their past life, and on top of all that, Eren was pretty sure that Levi had to have been at least twenty years older than him back then. Eleven years: really not a big deal.

Eren glanced around the small parking lot, wondering which of the cars was Levi's, only for the man to approach something else entirely. Levi hoisted a helmet and weighed it thoughtfully in his hands for a moment before tossing it over to Eren, who caught it on reflex.

"I only have the one. I'll let you wear it, since I'm a complete gentleman - not because I never wear the thing anyway, no, it has nothing to do with that. I'm just a chivalrous type of guy." Eren stared blankly at the shiny visor of the helmet in his hands before looking back up to Levi who blinked for a moment before realization covered his face.

"Well shit," he said sheepishly, sticking his hands into his pockets. "Hope you don't mind motorcycles; that would complicate things somewhat." Staring at Levi's crooked, apologetic, but completely unembarrassed smile Eren was pretty sure he fell just a little bit in love.

"You drive this to work?" Eren asked, remembering that Levi apparently taught high schoolers now (and wouldn't _that_ be an interesting class).

"Hell no. I wouldn't dare to leave this thing in a parking lot with those godless heathens." Levi's absolutely disgusted expression - nose wrinkled, lips curled, eyes horrified - shook a laugh from Eren. "I carpool with Hanji. A different godless heathen entirely, but the lesser of two evils." Eren nodded his understanding and fit the helmet over his head, snapping it securely into place.

"Oh, and by the way, I don't mind motorcycles _at all_."

Levi grinned in response, slinging a leg over the bike, glancing back over his shoulder to invite Eren to do the same. Fitting himself onto the bike behind Levi was honestly a little uncomfortable, mainly because Eren had never been on a motorcycle, and he had definitely never been on one with _someone else_ , but as awkward Eren was feeling, he was still aware that the machine beneath him was powerful and _fast_ and it would fuck him up if he didn't hold onto something. With a grudging amount of red in his cheeks and determination in his eyes, he wrapped his arms around Levi's waist because he wasn't planning on acting like some coy, shy idiot who had to be _told_ to hold on. Levi covered Eren's hands with one of his own for just a moment before starting the bike, and then they were going.

It was anticlimactic at first - slow and boring like a normal bicycle or something - and then they got on the highway. This date was definitely a good idea. Even if the rest of the night went to hell, this was worth it. The wind was strong and brisk, and Eren wondered how Levi's eyes could handle it without the visor of the helmet. The world was a fast blur of color and the sound of Eren's unintentional laughter was stolen by the wind and the blood rushing through his ears.

The ride was over too soon for Eren's liking, and he was standing up with legs that shook ever so slightly when he put his weight on them. He pulled the helmet off of his head, shaking his hair out, and turned to see Levi staring at him.

"What?" Eren asked, slightly breathless from the thrill.

"Nothing," Levi said, shaking his head. "Just hoping that you'll agree to a third date at some point."

Eren blinked a few times, then turned his gaze down to the helmet in his hands for lack of anything better to look at. He caught sight of his reflection in the shining surface, and suddenly Levi's words made sense. Eren's eyes were bright, his face flushed, his hair mussed. He quickly put the helmet where it belonged, because yes, he understood what Levi meant, and okay wow, he didn't want to think about that at this exact moment, and his face was probably even more red now than it had been a few seconds ago.

"So, what do you want to see?" Levi asked, as if he hadn't just thoroughly embarrassed both of them. Eren pointed blindly to one of the movies that would be showing soon, startling when Levi bit his lip on a laugh.

"Okay, _kid_." Eren stood in confused silence for a moment before realizing that he had, in fact, chosen a _kids'_ movie, but to his own credit, he had seen commercials and it actually looked pretty good. Eren had a healthy appreciation for animated movies, and who didn't love a good story about friendship and family and all that shit? Anyone could enjoy these movies as long as they had, you know, a _soul_ , and it had nothing to do with Eren's immaturity, no matter what Armin said.

Levi paid for their tickets, which Eren allowed because a) Levi presented a very logical argument about him having been the one who asked Eren out on the date and b) Eren was a broke ass teenager who would definitely not hesitate to let his date pay for shit when said date was so willing and eager.

Levi faced the concessions area like a warzone.

"Okay," he began, eyes roving the area, "I'll get our drinks and popcorns. Preferences?"

"I don't need my own popcorn," Eren said, picking up on the plural. As far as he was aware, part of the whole "movie date" gimmick was sharing a tub of popcorn and cheesy hand touching and shit, and Eren wasn't saying he wanted that, but it was the done thing, wasn't it?

"Listen kid, you're cute and you're interesting, but you're still an eighteen year old boy, and I'm not letting you stick your hands in my food. I remember being eighteen, and I will never trust you enough to take that risk, understood? Now, preferences?"

Eren choked on air as a laugh startled out of him. This Levi was so different than the old one that Eren sometimes found himself surprised when things remained the same. Like OCD and casual references to Eren's masturbatory habits.

"Just popcorn and a Pepsi's fine," he eventually replied.

"Okay then," Levi nodded with a self satisfied smile, "I'll hook us up with that while you go get the candy. I don't care what you get but be sure to get _a lot_ of it."

"Yes sir," Eren said with a joking salute - hand to the head style rather than hand to the heart.

With that they parted ways, each retrieving their various wares. They met up again at the entrance to the theater their movie was being shown in, a put upon look on Levi's face as he waited, trying to balance two bags of popcorn and two large drinks. Meanwhile Eren, hefted a bag full of candies of all varieties that probably weighed more than his head. Levi shoved half his burden into Eren's arms the moment the younger man was close enough.

Eren let Levi choose their seats, mainly because he had no idea how this was meant to work. Eren had been on about five dates in his life, and none of them had been to the movies, so all of his knowledge on how this was supposed to work came _from movies_. Like the popcorn thing - which frankly, he wasn't complaining about, because sweet, he got his own popcorn, and the whole "accidental hand touching" thing wasn't a huge loss. Then there was the seats thing, which basically dictated that people on dates sat at the back of the theater so they could make out or some shit. And Eren really didn't want to go there, but god forbid he break date rules or something like that.

He was probably overthinking this.

Levi seated them safely in the middle of the almost empty theater and Eren was so relieved it was honestly a little embarrassing. The next revelation came during the previews: Levi was not going to shut up at all during this movie. Already he was keeping a running commentary of everything that was going on, leaning heavily on the seat arm between them. When the actual movie began, he was polite enough to lower his voice - leaning closer so Eren could easily hear his words and contribute without straining to hear - but he wasn't polite enough to stop, and as Eren had to muffle laughter for the fifth time, he found that he couldn't care less.

Throughout the course of the picture, they (namely Levi) were shushed a grand total of eight time by a woman two rows in front of them, and twice by a man with his son behind them. The movie was as good as Eren thought it would be, with tales of friendship and the power of love and all that classic shit, and it was artfully done, and just really good, and Eren wasn't weird for thinking so.

"Are you _crying_?" Levi questioned disbelievingly by Eren's side as the movie drew to its close. Eren opened his mouth to vehemently deny such a dirty accusation, but Levi cut him off. "No, don't answer that, you're just going to lie. You are. You're actually crying." Levi sounded far too gleeful for Eren's liking.

"It's _sad_ ," Eren hissed in his own defense, narrowing watery eyes at his date (and some date he was being).

"It's a _movie_. For _children_." Huffing a frustrated breath, Eren picked up his mostly empty popcorn bag to throw at Levi, earning an indignant growl, which was enough the prompt Eren into throwing his empty soda cup too.

"That's disgusting, Eren!" Levi griped, sounding the most annoyed Eren had heard from him so far, amazingly similar to the way he used to be when faced with anything messy. Though in their past life Eren would be dead rather than on the receiving end of a nasty glare.

"There's popcorn all over the floor now," Levi mumbled. "You little shit." That earned them a third pointed "hush!" from the man behind them. "Oh, you hush. The movie is over now," Levi shot back to the man, twisting around in his seat and gesturing to the rolling credits. "I am covered in movie theater butter and if I want to bitch about it, I am damn well going to. Loudly."

Eren laughed at the righteously affronted look on the stranger's face, but stood and tugged on Levi's arm to pull him away before anything could escalate. As Eren pulled Levi from the theater, he muffled another laugh behind his hand and pulled an unpopped kernel from Levi's hair. The thought that he had seriously _dumped popcorn_ over Levi was terrifying, but the horrified look on the man's face was completely worth it.

"You are foul," Levi hissed. "I was going to buy you some payback Skittles on the way out, but see if I fucking do that now."

"Levi! You were going to buy me symbolic apology Skittles? How sweet."

"Well, not _now_ ," Levi huffed. "You can take your symbolism and shove it up your ass-"

"It's only our first date; I really don't think I'm ready for that."

"- _and_ , I'll be claiming all the candy left over from today as compensation for what a brat you are." Without further word, Levi snatched the bag containing the remaining candy, the look on his face just daring Eren to challenge his claim. Eren, in all his graciousness, let the issue lie.

Eren revelled in the ride back to the apartment building, mainly because his second time on a motorcycle was just as awesome as his first, but also because a creeping part of him wondered if he would get this chance again. He thought the night had gone pretty well. Not like, outstandingly perfect or anything, but at least pretty well. The problem was that Levi was impossible to read, and sure he was laughing and all, but maybe he was just making the best out of a bad situation or something. Eren was _pretty sure_ it had gone okay, but he was going to enjoy this ride to the fullest, just in case.

Levi eased the bike to a stop and shut it down, taking his helmet from Eren's hands and putting it where it belonged. They walked to their floor in silence, but it was far more comfortable a quiet than the one Eren had tried to escape earlier that evening.

"So these dates usually go dinner and a movie, right?" Levi asked casually, hands shoved into his pockets.

"Yeah."

"So what would you say to ordering some pizza?"

Eren smiled. He had been enjoying himself. The banter, just getting to be close to Levi, getting to be close to this new Levi without being plagued by paranoia every second.

"I'd say where the hell are we going to eat it?"

"We have to perfectly good apartments to choose from."

"Ah, yes. Apartments inhabited by annoying roommates." Levi was quiet for a moment.

"You're not wrong." Then, after another moment: "There's always the roof."

"Well in _that_ case-" Eren thought for a moment, "-I'd say anything goes as long as there's no pineapple on it. On further thought, I'd ask: do they deliver to the roof?"

"If I'm paying them, they fucking better."

"Cool," Eren said with a nod of his head, "race you to the roof." He was gone before Levi had a chance to ask questions.

Eren bolted the stairs much faster than necessary, considering that Levi was not at all close behind him. Honestly, Eren wasn't surprised by that alone - Levi refusing to race him up five staircases seemed reasonable. It was only when a couple of minutes had passed that Eren started to get uncomfortable. And then ten minutes flew by and he got worried. Maybe Levi was ditching him. Maybe he didn't enjoy the night as much as Eren did. Maybe he wanted to get rid of him. In that case, they could have just parted ways at their apartments, but maybe Levi was being vindictive and cruel like Eren knew he sometimes could be, in their past life.

So, confused, disheartened, Eren made his way back downstairs, and then he got mad. Levi was sitting calmly in the hallway, tapping on his phone. He looked up as Eren came closer.

"They won't deliver to the roof," he announced simply. Eren blinked.

"You _asshole_."

"Hey, you're the one who went running off."

"I thought you ditched me," Eren confessed grumpily. Levi nudged Eren's leg with his foot as Eren moved to pass. Eren took that as a cue to take a seat beside Levi and did so after a moment of reluctance.

"Why would I ditch you after trying so hard to get in your pants?"

Eren scoffed and rolled his eyes, but inched his seat against the wall slightly closer to Levi.

"So, we're waiting for the pizza, now?" he asked, after a moment's pause.

"Yep," Levi responded, eyes flicking from his phone to Eren, and then back. "Now we wait."

Eren took a second, eyes scanning over Levi's profile, sharp features lit from the bright light of his screen. Eren settled back against the wall. He was fine with waiting.

 **xxxxxxxxxx**

Endings are weird

At some point I said Levi was 25 I LIED. That seemed too young for a teacher. He's 29 now. Still young, but older. Apparently I have a thing for 11 year age gaps, I think it was the same in Risk

This story will be finished. Eventually. I remember when I started my first story and I was posting two chapters a day sometimes, hah. College is hard, guys. See you again in 6+ months. (Yes, it may take that long, be prepared, but you _will_ see me again.)


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